The next day, the Tan family’s sedan had successfully reached another city.

Meanwhile, the rain in Yan County and surrounding areas became increasingly fierce. Today, the local station reported: the drainage system couldn’t handle the load, streets showed large-scale flooding, and the main bridge connecting Yan County to the neighboring county had broken. The scrolling text on the news continuously reminded that “residents should try to stay home and avoid going out.”

Lin Shilan and Tan Jin’s phones had been ringing all morning. First, Lu Xiaorong called, anxious about her daughter’s situation; then the Tan family parents talked with Tan Jin on the phone for half an hour.

After appeasing their families’ emotions, before they had time to drink water, Su Ge’s call came.

“We didn’t manage to leave yesterday, and now we can’t get out.” Lin Shilan had nothing to hide from Su Ge. At this point, her heart was clear, and she didn’t feel panicked: “We’re not planning to go out anymore either.”

Su Ge didn’t know the reason. Hearing this news, she became as anxious as an ant on a hot pan. The two people on the other end of the phone were clearly facing imminent death, yet they were so carefree and at ease—she couldn’t understand it at all.

“You can foresee the future—how did you get trapped again? So you came on this trip and struggled for several months just to let your family and friends escape? What about yourselves? I really don’t know what to say about you two. Your time travel was simply traveling for nothing.”

Tan Jin and Lin Shilan exchanged smiles.

This pair of foolish young lovers hadn’t broken down, but Su Ge had: “I’m being serious—what are you laughing at?”

Stopping her smile, Lin Shilan agreed with her: “Traveling for nothing—you’re absolutely right.”

Su Ge was anxious for them, but they themselves knew…

Their time travel allowed them to meet each other again—that was the meaning.

The days here, every day, every minute, every second, were all stolen.

So being able to stay together was happiness.

They weren’t sad. Their hearts were content.

Lin Shilan timely changed the subject and asked Su Ge about her situation.

Su Ge’s search for her mother was progressing rapidly. Yesterday she had gathered information and found the commercial street where her mother sold fried skewers. Su Ge planned to continue narrowing the scope and searching—she felt that in the near future she would be able to see her mother.

After talking with Su Ge, both Tan Jin and Lin Shilan sincerely felt happy about her current situation.

All the phone calls that should have come had come. The phone was temporarily quiet, and their little home returned to peace.

Lin Shilan organized the food and clothes she had moved over while watching the news on TV.

The images in the news were shocking—billboards collapsing, trees blown down by wind, pedestrians injured and vehicles destroyed. In nearby areas, multiple road sections had experienced collapses.

The disaster had spread to the shops and streets she was familiar with.

Those images were all things Lin Shilan had seen before. In previous rainy seasons, they would appear in late July, but this time they had come early to the end of June.

Lin Shilan began to worry about the people here: “A small number of people escaped—that counts as violating the original spacetime trajectory. The disaster came early—could this be a sign that spacetime is about to collapse?”

Tan Jin comforted her: “The disaster coming early only shows that this spacetime is different from our spacetime. Even before they escaped, we could feel that many things happening here were different from the original. The future here might develop in a better or worse direction. But ultimately, ‘different’ isn’t necessarily bad.”

June 27th.

Low-lying houses in Yan County were completely flooded.

From noon to afternoon, the residential complex kept broadcasting, notifying residents to evacuate as soon as possible to nearby shelters.

Lin Shilan plugged her ears, wrapped herself tightly in the comforter, and turned over. She glanced at Tan Jin lying beside her with his eyes open, staring at the ceiling, looking thoughtful.

“What are you thinking about?” she asked.

He answered seriously: “Thinking about what to make you for dinner.”

She smiled, hugging her pillow: “Have you thought of something?”

“There are eggs in the fridge—first make spicy pepper and egg stir-fry. The pork should be eaten, so I’ll make you preserved vegetable pork. Marinate some chicken leg meat, stir-fry it, add some chopped scallions—definitely fragrant. For soup, I’ll make my specialty egg drop soup.”

Saying such a long string in one breath, Tan Jin made her hungry.

Lin Shilan swallowed uncontrollably and nimbly climbed out of bed, dragging the chef into the kitchen to cook for her.

The chicken leg meat was the best seller—as soon as it was brought to the table, they cleared the plate immediately.

The spicy pepper and egg stir-fry was so delicious that she ate all the peppers.

The preserved vegetable pork was a bit salty, but it was just right with rice.

The egg drop soup maintained Tan Jin’s usual standard. Lin Shilan drank a lot.

After the meal, they rubbed their round bellies, satisfied.

“Your birthday is coming soon,” the chef planned: “On your birthday, I’ll have to make a meal even more sumptuous than this.”

Lin Shilan shook her head: “I don’t want to celebrate my birthday. It’s not interesting.”

Full from the meal, she got food drowsy and lay on the sofa for a while.

At dinner time, Tan Jin called her, but Lin Shilan didn’t wake up.

He picked her up, carried her into the bedroom, and carefully covered her with the blanket.

June 28th.

Thunder. Lin Shilan woke with a start from her dream.

Inside the house, the curtains were drawn—pitch black.

The sound of wind and rain outside was shrill and fierce, like a devil’s roar. Several electric scooters parked at the bottom of the building emitted panicked, sharp alarms. Lin Shilan’s hand reached to the side—the blanket was empty. Tan Jin wasn’t there.

Lin Shilan stumbled as she climbed up, loudly shouting “Tan Jin.”

She wiped her face and felt that it was ice cold, covered in tears.

She searched for him through several rooms, called him but got no response… Outside the window, lightning flashed and thunder roared. Lin Shilan collapsed against the wall corner, covering herself with the curtain, shaking like a sieve.

Tan Jin came back from mopping and saw her curled up in the corner.

Their window had been cracked by the wind, leaking water everywhere. He had gotten up to clean, repair the window, then fill the main door and other gaps with prepared sandbags and cloth bags to prevent floodwater from rushing into the house.

The sound of thunder and rain was noisy—he hadn’t heard her calling him.

After seeing Tan Jin, the frightened Lin Shilan didn’t immediately regain her composure. She questioned him hoarsely about why he was running around randomly and lost her temper at him.

Tan Jin was covered in sweat. He crouched beside her, speaking softly and gently.

Lin Shilan sobbed continuously.

He reached out to hold her. She slapped his hand away.

“You want to abandon me. You’re planning to break your word again. If you don’t want to stay with me, then get lost. Get lost right now.” Anxiety made Lin Shilan’s emotions lose control. She bristled all over, looking at him like looking at her father’s murderer.

This was the root of illness left from last time when he wanted her to return the oath.

Tan Jin was reaping what he sowed.

He took several slaps but still squeezed over regardless and held her tight.

The more she cried, the tighter he held her.

Lin Shilan was fierce: “Get lost. Stop bothering me.”

Tan Jin was also fierce: “Why should I listen to you? I’m going to bother you.”

The wild wind raged, the floodwaters surged. The surroundings were so noisy, yet so quiet.

The air conditioner stopped. The fan stopped.

The lights wouldn’t turn on. The TV wouldn’t turn on.

This day, electricity in the entire county was cut off.

There was still stored food at home, but with poor appetites, Lin Shilan and Tan Jin didn’t eat all day.

They were like they’d been sewn together.

She sat in his lap in a daze. His arms circled her shoulders, holding her firmly in place.

They didn’t do anything, didn’t say anything—they just held each other tightly.

When she raised her head, he would place a small kiss, light as a feather, on her cheek, the corner of her forehead, or her lips.

June 29th.

After getting up, they discovered the water had been cut off.

No electricity, no water. The summer stuffiness and the dampness brought by the flood stacked up indoors, mixing into an unpleasant strange smell. That smell was a bit like the mop in the school’s trash corner—dirty and sour-smelling.

Their skin was sticky. They were always sweating, but the sweat didn’t come out refreshingly.

Tan Jin stayed glued to Lin Shilan, needing to stick to her no matter what he did.

When eating, he wouldn’t sit in his own chair but insisted on squeezing behind her to sit on the same chair. When she went to the bathroom, he would stand at the door motionlessly waiting for her.

Lin Shilan was almost dying from the heat of Dog Jin Jin’s clinginess.

She angrily picked at his little mole and pinched his chubby face.

His skin was thick—he didn’t feel pain and found it quite fun.

Before bed, they used their stored water to take a cold shower. Who knows who started it first, but the shower gradually evolved into a water fight.

Tan Jin was completely defeated by Lin Shilan.

Her wild laughter came from the bathroom.

With his hair dripping wet, he raised both hands in surrender. Who knew that the moment he opened his eyes, she splashed another ladle of water on his face. Lin Shilan was going too far. Tan Jin pounced over and tickled her.

She laughed until tears came from her eyes, her whole body going weak as she slumped against the wall, saying all sorts of nice things to make him stop.

“I was wrong! I was wrong, I was wrong! Jin Jin, little Jin, I was wrong!”

Tan Jin magnanimously spared her. Not even a second after gaining freedom, Lin Shilan quietly reached for the water ladle and was caught red-handed by Tan Jin.

He hoisted up the mischievous her in one motion and directly carried her back to the bedroom.

After showering, they had the same soap fragrance on their bodies. At night without lights, immersed in darkness, they could still confirm each other’s presence.

“Where has the water reached?”

“Don’t know.”

“Lin Shilan, see you tomorrow.”

“Tan Jin, see you tomorrow.”

Lin Shilan and Tan Jin fell asleep holding hands.

June 30th.

The upstream dam showed cracks, and floodwaters overflowed.

Disaster victims crowded the shelters.

In areas not yet submerged by floodwater, there was widespread chaos of smashing glass to loot supplies.

The grocery store at the entrance of their residential complex—water, snacks, cigarettes and alcohol—all looted clean.

People had all gone mad, not only taking things from stores but also taking things from others’ hands. Everyone desperately wanted to survive, able to push and fight each other over a single egg.

Lin Shilan had no plans to hoard supplies and was sleeping soundly at home.

She thought: the two of them didn’t plan to live—what use was looting supplies? Besides, all of Yan County might be washed away in the next second by the backflowing river water. When that time came, even with an extra bite to eat, there would be no possibility of survival…

While she slept soundly, Tan Jin secretly went out, rushing to the small store at their doorstep.

The store door was wide open, the atmosphere inside tense. Tan Jin decisively joined in, squeezing with everyone until heads were broken and bleeding. He drilled inward with all his might, even more crazy than the red-eyed looters. After occupying the best position, he didn’t take any food but continued forward, heading straight for the fourth row of shelves deep in the small store.

—Great! There’s still some!

He found what he wanted, his eyes shining.

Various colored markers and crayons, all still intact in their original positions on the shelf. Tan Jin treasured them like precious finds, collecting them all into his bag.

“Madman.” The uncle who had been stepped on twice by Tan Jin earlier couldn’t help but curse him when he saw him take these worthless things.

Tan Jin didn’t care about him at all.

He clutched the bag, stuffed money to the store owner crying at the doorway, then left the store with a vigilant expression, afraid someone would rob his colored pencils halfway.

Tomorrow was Lin Shilan’s birthday.

If they could hold on until tomorrow, this would be the last birthday Tan Jin would celebrate with her.

Their building creaked from the wind, as if about to fall apart. Staring at the rainwater flooding the stairwell, Tan Jin was in a trance for a moment.

Then, gripping the plastic bag in his hand tightly, he quickened his pace and ran upstairs, rushing to return to her side before Lin Shilan woke up.